Florida Courts Rule ADA Covers Websites With Nexus To Physical Store
JD Supra
To summarize, two of the three Florida federal judges to have decided whether Title III of the ADA covers websites of public accommodations require a “nexus” between the website and a physical place of business where customers go (in alignment with the Ninth Circuit and precluding suits against web-only businesses), and one requires that the website’s lack of accessibility actually impede a plaintiff’s access to a physical place of business. All three judges agree that websites with no nexus to a physical place of public accommodation are not covered by the ADA.
Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Driver's ADA Challenge to Sleep Apnea Screening Program
Lexology
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court denied a driver’s Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) challenge to a carrier’s sleep apnea screening program in Parker v. Crete Carrier Corp., U.S. Supreme Court Case No. 16-2002. In the case, Parker, a driver, alleged that Crete, his employer, discriminated against him by requiring him—and every other Crete driver with a body mass index (“BMI”) of 35 or greater—to undergo medical testing to determine whether they had obstructive sleep apnea.
New York City settles with U.S. over denying job to HIV-positive man
New York City's police department will pay an HIV-positive man $85,000 and offer to hire him as a dispatcher to settle a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice claiming the city illegally revoked a job offer because of his condition.
The agreement, filed on Monday in federal court in Manhattan, also calls for the NYPD to train its medical assessment staff to ensure they do not discriminate against job applicants in violation of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
Raymond Parker applied in July 2013 to be an emergency dispatcher and received a conditional offer of employment, according to the lawsuit. He was given a notice of medical disqualification in December 2013, however, after disclosing he had human immunodeficiency virus, known as HIV, which causes AIDS.
The Justice Department sued after the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigated a complaint filed by Parker and failed to reach an agreement with the city. The decision to revoke Parker's offer, the Justice Department said, was illegal because having HIV constitutes a disability, even if it causes no symptoms.
The city's law department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the decision.
"As a result of this lawsuit, the City of New York has acknowledged that HIV status is not a basis to deny an individual employment," Acting U.S. Attorney in Manhattan Joon Kim said.
Ethics and Compliance Brown Bag focuses on ADA accommodations
CU Boulder Today
At the University of Colorado Boulder, individuals with disabilities are entitled to access, support and reasonable accommodations.
Join Michael Roseberry, director of ADA Compliance in the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance, for this month's Ethics and Compliance Brown Bag session on the subject of disability access for events.
Accommodation needs or requests can come into the university from a faculty or staff member as well as a visitor to our campus attending a meeting, conference or event. The ADA Compliance team serves as a resource by advising the campus on reasonable accommodations and working proactively to continually develop an accessible university through education and issue resolution.
ADA regs for kiosks being defined by lawsuits, not legislation
ATM Marketplace
A recent lawsuit on behalf of a blind customer against Eatsa, a restaurant that uses self-order kiosks, has put the kiosk industry in the spotlight.
The American Council of the Blind filed a lawsuit in late March in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against the fast casual restaurant chain on behalf of a legally blind customer.
Michael Godino said he was unable to use the self-serve kiosk in a New York City Eatsa to browse the menu, check prices, select ingredients, review his order or pay since the device was inaccessible. The lawsuit alleges Godino could not pick up his food since the food delivery system was not accessible.
Although requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act do not provide black-and-white specifications as to what kiosk deployers and integrators must do to comply with the law, the complaint asked the court to order Eatsa to take necessary steps to ensure compliance with ADA and state law.
The Eatsa case is just one of several concerning kiosk and vending machine accessibility.
Last year, a consumer sued Target claiming that its price reader kiosks were not equipped with auxiliary aids for the visually impaired. In May 2016, the plaintiff attempted to use a price reader kiosk in a Miami Target store, and "was unable to comprehend the [prices]" due to access barriers.
The plaintiff asked that the Target price-reader kiosks be modified with auxiliary aids for the visually impaired, so that individuals who are visually impaired will receive the same benefits from the kiosks as the general public.
Accommodations are a necessity at universities, not an option
Miami Student
disorder or an autoimmune disease, are hard of hearing, wheelchair users, are deaf, blind, or visually impaired, can all identify their diagnosis as a disability, but to be disabled is something else. A social position rather than a medical diagnosis, for some it means identifying with a culture, but perhaps in one of the most heterogeneous minorities, the singular ubiquitous experience is one of feeling on edge. It is a precarious position when your essential physical or psychiatric being is considered a liability.
Horizon Health Reaches $800K Settlement In Wrongful Termination Suit
Patch.com
Horizon Health has settled with a former employee to the tune of $80,000 over allegations it fired her for not earning a required professional certification on time, despite a two-month disability leave that delayed her preparation for the test.
Man accuses Martinez Auto Brokers, Cutler Bay 224 of violating ADA with alleged barriers
Florida Record
A disabled man is accusing a tenant and the owners of a Miami property of disability discrimination.
Renzo Barberi filed a complaint on March 30 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against Martinez Buy and Sell Wholesale Used Cars Inc., doing business as Martinez Auto Brokers, and Cutler Bay 224 alleging violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Hibiscus House Downtown allegedly failed to comply with Americans with Disabilities Act
Florida Record
A man is suing Hibiscus House Downtown Holding Company LLC and Hibiscus House Downtown LLC for alleged violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
James Donahue filed a lawsuit on March 30 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida alleging that the defendants failed to provide full and safe equal access to their facilities.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that he suffered harm and discrimination in December 2016 while using the defendants' facility. He claims that he experienced difficulty because of the defendants' failure to make reasonable modifications to accommodate all individuals, including people with disabilities. The plaintiff holds the defendants responsible for allegedly creating hazards to the plaintiff's safety and well-being and failing to design and construct an ADA-compliant premises.
Woman who filed dozens of disability lawsuits resigns from state board, drops most cases
The Denver Post
A gubernatorial appointee who had filed dozens of federal disability lawsuits against area businesses has resigned from the state board she chaired and dropped many of the cases.
Mellisa Umphenour said she resigned March 20 as chairperson of the Colorado Developmental Disabilities Council because she lacked the time to handle a variety of commitments — not from any firestorm she faced for filing 64 lawsuits in just over two months against businesses that allegedly failed to comply with laws to accommodate the disabled.
Disabled residents say Willits is accessibility challenging
The Willits News
The bespectacled, blue-eyed older man sat across the table at a local Willits restaurant enjoying a meal and pondering some questions recently posed to him about his life in the community and about the challenges he has faced as a handicapped person.
“I avoid restaurants if I know they aren’t accessible,” he said in a soft spoken tone. Karl Bliese, a pastor at St. John Lutheran Church in Willits will enter his ninth year with the church this summer. He said he knows all too well there are problems at local businesses with accessibility, but adds at least more people have become more aware of the problem of late.
Court Eases Burden on Employees in FMLA Retaliation Claims
The Legal Intelligencer-
Employers and their counsel face the spectre of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) retaliation on a seemingly daily basis. Managers are often frustrated by an employee's absence and may find that the department continues to function successfully during the employee's absence. The employee's return (or continuation of the leave if intermittent) may not go smoothly and whether his employment continues, an FMLA retaliation claim may ensue. In Egan v. Delaware River Port Authority, No. 16-1471, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 4993 (3rd Cir. March 21), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed the existence of a cause of action for FMLA retaliation and eased the burden on employees by allowing claims to proceed on a "mixed-motive" theory without "direct evidence" of discrimination for employees to prevail in subsequent litigation.
Lawsuit says disabled inmates treated poorly at jail
Redding Record Searchlight
A federal judge granted class status to a lawsuit alleging Shasta County Jail discriminates against people with disabilities.
Filed last year, the lawsuit says the jail does not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and does not have the necessary accommodations for people with disabilities, such as handle bars in showers. Some doorways are too narrow for wheelchairs and there is a lack of seating in classrooms for people in wheelchairs, according to court documents.
The lawsuit says this restricts disabled inmates' ability to sleep, shower, worship, exercise and move around the facility on Court Street in downtown Redding and is a form of discrimination.
Filed in a U.S. District Court in Sacramento last year, a federal judge on April 5 granted the class status.